A four-year phase of support for the Bank of Albania started officially today after an agreement that will enable expertise and knowledge sharing from a Swiss-funded programme that supports central banks in the Western Balkans region.
Thanking the Swiss government for this collaboration, the Governor of the Bank of Albania Mr. Gent Sejko said that with this new agreement, the Bank of Albania will be part of the bilateral assistance programme for central banks. “Our expectation after implementing the second phase is that decision-making on monetary policies is supported by improved forecasting capacities, that macro-prudential policies use expanded knowledge on various risks, that research is enriched further with the best methodologies and practices from scientific research. These goals are also part of our medium-term strategy”, said Governoer Sejko.
“Albania needs effective institutions in all areas and on all levels. I consider the Bank of Albania to be such an institution. I can ensure you that providing capacity building to the Bank of Albania has been a very rewarding activity because of the highly professional human resources you have in this institution. With no doubt, Bank of Albania has been an excellent, active and committed partner in this collaboration..”, said Swiss Ambassador Adrian Maître. He added that the new agreement “opens the way for more knowledge, expertise and exchanges”.
The new agreement covers the period 2018-2022 during which the programme ‘Bilateral Assistance and Capacity Development for Central Banks’ (BCC) will provide the Bank of Albania with analytical and technical expertise aimd at effective monetary policy, efficient financial stability, and more solid research activities.
According to the implementer of the programme – the Geneva Graduate Institute – this expertise will be provided through expert missions, online courses, technical workshops, and exchange visits. It will also cover topics such as human resource management, business continuity, research communication and more.
In 2013 the Bank of Albania began its cooperation with the BCC programme during its first phase which resulted in improved skills of BoA staff in modelling, forecasting and research. Over 100 staff took part in 18 training missions and several policy papers and research works were published.
